Flavia Leal came to the US from Brazil in 2000 with little to her name. Today, she runs several successful Flavia Leal Beauty School locations, founded a cosmetics company, and appears as a motivational speaker across America and Europe.
She’s learned much on her journey to success and overcome many hurdles. She was a young, single mother of a child with ADHD; she suffered the loss of both her parents within a year of each other, lost a business, went through a bankruptcy, and regularly worked 80-hour weeks.
She overcame many of these roadblocks by keeping a positive mental attitude and working toward her life’s mission: to help women like herself grow their talents and achieve their dreams.
She recalled her early days in this country and how hard it was to find an opportunity for someone like herself: an immigrant with a low income. She became determined to open a beauty school that opened its doors wide for women like her former self.
“Life only makes sense when you are helping others,” she said.
Here, she shares five of her favorite tips for female entrepreneurs.
Table of Contents
Shift Your Mindset
Mindset is a huge part of Leal’s legend and her curriculum at her schools. She knows that no matter how good your highlighting or facial skills are, if you don’t believe in yourself and radiate confidence, success will not truly materialize for you.
She trains her students to look at the good in themselves, their skills, and the families they support. Her students often say that she helps them with their self-esteem and personal beliefs so deeply that they leave her classes better to handle all kinds of issues that arise in their personal lives.
She always reminds them to stay positive. “Your internal dialogue becomes your external reality. So, try to stop doubting yourself, let your inner voice be kind, and always practice self-love,” she said.
Helping Fellow Women
Women helping women is a belief that is close to Leal’s heart. She advises female founders, CEOs, and executives that their peers are not their competition but their allies.
“When one of us wins, we all win. And we can continue to help and uplift each other in the business world,” explained Leal.
Every connection you make with another female entrepreneur is important and sacred. They might become your mentor, next partner, or best friend. Perhaps they will invest in your company, introduce you to an excellent new vendor, or become a customer themselves.
Learning to embrace other female entrepreneurs is the mark of a truly secure and confident business owner.
Delete Limiting Beliefs
Leal struggled with imposter syndrome and limiting beliefs that held her back from her destiny. But, by using daily affirmations and solid logic about her skills and achievements, she learned how to hit pause on those damaging inner doubts. Over time, she could remove them from her day-to-day life altogether.
She also warned female entrepreneurs from making limiting beliefs worse by indulging in shame spirals. “Not only are limiting beliefs harmful and a waste of time. We often know we have them and feel guilty about it, creating a two-fold problem of wrong beliefs and inner shame,” Leal said.
The best way to start is not to feel bad about these thoughts but to simply acknowledge them and move on. You can make progress on this goal every day.
Be Clear on What You Want
If you don’t know precisely what you want and can’t picture it in your mind with clarity, how do you expect to achieve it or see when you complete it?
It’s essential to crystalize your hopes and dreams and even write them down, creating a timeline, mini-goals to hit along the way, and a hierarchy of which goals are more important than others.
Consult your written goals regularly, update them and figure out what is helping you move closer to your dreams — and what is hindering you. For example, is a long commute keeping you from putting time into your side-hustle? Perhaps you could find a job closer to home, work from home a few days per week, or take public transport that would allow you to work on your dream while going to and from the office.
Money Matters
Leal hasn’t always made the best money decisions. Her bankruptcy and business failure were indicative that she wasn’t educated about financial matters early in her career. For this reason, she recommends that female founders and entrepreneurs take a financial wellness course that teaches the basics: investing, budgeting, financing, loans, and credit.
“This is one of my most important pieces of advice. If I’d known these basics early in my career, I would have found success years earlier,” she said.
Whether you are starting your own business or just dreaming of doing so, Leal’s tips are ones that every female entrepreneur can benefit from.
About Flavia Leal
Flavia Leal, Founder of the Flavia Leal Beauty School, is an award-winning instructor, serial entrepreneur and motivational speaker. For more information, please visit: https://www.flavialeal.com/
